Parking device



Dec. 18, 1962 A. WULLSCHLEGER PARKING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001;- 6, 1958 Dec. 18, 1962 A. WULLSCHLEGER 3,069,029

PARKING DEVICE Filed Oct. 6, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 18, 1962 Filed OCt. 6, 1958 A. WULLSCHLEGER PARKING DEVICE '7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 6, 1958 Dec. 18, 1962 A. WULLSCHLEGER PARKING DEVICE '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 18, 1962 A. WULLSCHLEGER PARKING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed 001;. 6, 1958 PARKING DEVICE 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Oct. 6, 1958 Dec. 18, 1962 A. WULLSCHLEGER PARKING DEVICE Filed Oct. 6, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 United States Patent Qticc 3,%9,9Z9 Patented Dec. 18, 1962 3,069,029 PARKING DEVICE August Wullschleger, 26 Martin Distei Strasse, Olten, Switzerland Filed Oct. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 765,549 Claims priority, application Switzerland Oct. 7, 1957 1 Claim. (Cl. 214--16.1)

The present invention concerns a parking device for vehicles especially motor cars, with two driveable, endless transport devices such as chains, wire ropes, bands, on which cabins are mounted to receive the vehicles. In other known parking devices of this type the distances between the cabins are relatively large, which leads to poor utilization of the building space. As will be explained later, the invention allows these disadvantages to be overcome, in that for each cabin two carriers are provided, which are fastened to the transport devices, these carriers carry the cabins on the outside and eccentrically with respect to the transport devices.

The parking device is advantageously so arranged that the cabins are carried parallel to each other, so that they cannot swing and that they do not adopt a slanting position even when the load is not centrally placed.

Several examples of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings in order to give an understanding of the principles of the invention. In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 illustrates a building housing a vertically arrange parking device according to the invention;

FIG. 2a shows the uppermost and FIG. 2b shows the lowermost part of the driving and guiding mechanisms of the parking device;

FIG. 3a is a view in the direction of the arrow 3a in FIG. 2a, and FIG. 3b is a view in the direction of the arrow 3b in FIG. 212;

FIG. 4 shows a detail of the device on a larger scale;

FIG. 5 illustrates a carrier device for one cabin viewed in the same direction as in the FIGURES 2a and 2b, but to a larger scale;

FIG. 6 is a section through the guides above the carrier device taken on the line 66 of FIG. 2a;

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the parking device in a horizontal and inclined arrangement, respectively.

The parking device shown in FIG. 1 has a number of cabins each of which is adapted to receive a car or a number of smaller vehicles. It is to be understood, of course, that the cabins must not be totally closed, but they may consist of, in principle, a platform 1b only, which is rigidly connected to a carrier axle 2 arranged above the cabin by means of connecting parts In. The axle 2 is carried in swivel bearings 3 near its ends, each of these bearings forming a part of the carrying arrangement 4.

. Each of these carrying arrangements, which are shown to a larger scale in FIGS. 5 and 6, has a suspension arrangement, and possesses a double carrying connection or arm 5 with the transport arrangement, which on the one side carries the bearing 3 and on the other side is equipped with two guiding rollers 6 and 7. The carrying connection forms a particular part of an endless transport arrangement, in the case of the example illustrated this is an endless chain 8-, and is connected with this chain-over bolts 9, 10 with connecting normal links 11. The bearing 3 is equipped with a swivel axle 3a, which is perpendicular to the axle 2 and is carried in a bearing 5a which is fixed to the carrying connection 5 by means of bolts 5b and nuts 5c. A nut 3b is screwed on to the end of the axle 3a, in order to secure it in the bearing 5a. The cardanic bearing of the ends of the axle 2 in the bearing 3, 5a is so arranged because the two suspensions 4 for the axle 2 do not always lie exactly at the same height in practice.

The chain 8 is guided by two chain wheels 12, 13 which to a chain tensioning device.

are arranged above one another, in FIG. 1. Only the pitch circles are shown. The wheel 13 is driven by a motor 40 and gears 41 to 44 while the other wheel 12 is attached The tensioning device is already well known and is for this reason, not shown.

Along the vertical parts of the chain 8 are the guides or tracks 14, 15 in which the guiding rollers 6, 7 are guided, in order to take up the torque exercised on the carrying connection 5 by the load in the cabin. Parallel to the guides 14, 15 are the straight guides or tracks 16, 17. These guides 1417 have a U-shaped cross-section, the two guides 14 and 16 being preferably made from a single piece. The same construction is preferably em.- ployed for the guides 15 and 17 (see FIG. 6). Above the two guides 14, 16 and 15, 17, respectively are arranged for each, two semi-circular guides or tracks 18, 19. Similarly, below these guides are arranged, respectively, two semi-circular guides 26, 21 which have, for practical reasons, a U-shaped cross-section. The guides 1321 are shown in FIGS. 2:: and 2b as symmetrically arranged. The guides 1621 serve to guide the cabins 1 by means of the carrier or suspension arrangements 4, so that they cannot oscillate and also so that the platforms 1b remain vertical even when eccentrically loaded. It would also be possible to supply only one guiding system 16, 17, 182 i and 19-41 on one side of a cabin.

The axle 2 is rigidly connected by means of a pin 22 to a support 23, which has a triangular-shaped plate 24, an inclined arm 25, and a bolt 26 parallel to the axle 2, which connect an extension arm 24a extending upwardly from the plate 24 and the inclined arm 25 rigidly connected therewith. The triangular-shaped plate 24 is equipped with a boss 27 on its vertex portion opposite the base, in which the axle 2 is inserted, while on its two other vertex portions adjacent to the base are fitted guiding rollers 28, 29 which engage with the vertical guides 16, respectively 17. A further guiding roller 30 is arranged on the other side of this plate opposite the roller 28', this roller engaging with the curved guides 18 and 20. Lastly the free end of the arm 25 has a further guiding roller 31 which engages with the curved guides 19 and 21.

Even though as a general rule two similar suspension systems 4 are used to support the axle 2, one would be quite sufficient to achieve parallel guiding, while the other suspension system could be made without the parallel guiding parts 2331.

The curved guides 13-21 are so formed that the connecting line between the center points A and B of the rollers 28 and 29, respectively 30 and 31 in FIG. 5 always remains horizontal, which because of the rigid connection between the plate 24 and the connecting parts 1a of the cabin by means of the axle 2 causes the cabin to remain vertical always, the axle 2 naturally being free to swing in its bearings 3. This form of guide is easily designed, it one observes that the centre C of the line AB must always move on a semi-circle K about the upper chain wheel 12, and a semi-circle K about the lower chain wheel 13. The centers M and M of these respective semi-circles (FIGS. 2a and 2b) are positioned at a distance it vertically above the respective centers of the respective chain wheels Z and Z must always be horizontal. I

The plate 24 is guided parallel from the point D to the point E (FIGS. 2b and 2a) by means of the roller 28 in the guide 16, and from the point E to point F by the roller 35 in the guide 13'. From the point P to the point G the roller 31 moves in the guide 19. From G to H the roller 29 follows the guide 17. From H to I the roller 30 moves in the guide 20, and from I to D the roller 31 follows the guide 21.

From the foregoing, and according to the showing of FIGS. 6, 2a and 21), it will be evident that switching points Furthermore, the line ACB (FIG. 5)

are provided at the points E, F, G, H and D whereby the rollers 6, 28, 3t), 29 and 31 may function as described.

The parking device so described is used in a well known way in that the cabins are loaded and unloaded, at their lowest point (I) and the vehicles remain in the cabins in which they have been placed for the duration of the parking time.

It is to be noted that when the axle 2 is carried around the chain wheels 12 and 13, this axle moves on a semicircle whose radius R is chosen large enough so that the cabins despite their breadth do not interfere with one another. This radius R is longer than the radius r of the chain wheels 12 and 13, by the length of the carrying connection 5. If two successive axles 2 have an angular separation or when being carried round the chain wheels, then the distance between them along the vertical part of the chain 8 is not Ra but in and r may be chosen so small that the cabins along the vertical part of the chain fit exactly above one another, that is to say I'm is only slightly larger than the height of a cabin.

The guiding rails Isl-21 are secured to the walls 46 of the building 47 containing the parking device by means of brackets 45. See Fi S. 3a, 3b and 4. The chain wheels 12 and 13 are also supported by bearings secured to the said walls.

A distance between cabins that is as small as possible, which is very important for the economic use of the building height, in that one may park the maximum number of vehicles. By means of the parallel guiding of the cabins, oscillation of these even by eccentric loading is eliminated. Even without the parallel guides one would still achieve a very good utilisation of the height of the building. A variation of the principle would be to equip the cabins themselves with guiding rollers and to provide suitable guides for their parallel guiding. This variation is however not so favourable as the one described where the suspension arrangement acts together with the guides.

The above description deals with a vertical arrangement. It is however possible to utilise the design, by retaining all the important parts, either horizontally as represented in PEG. 7 or in any desired slope between the horizontal and the vertical as shown in FIG. 8. A horizontal or slanting arrangement allows the parking device to be installed underground beneath the ground level, in cellars etc.

When the parking device is arranged below buildings, or below the surface of streets or open spaces at ground level, an inclined entrance 51 leads from the street 50 to a preferable horizontally arranged tunnel 52, in which the vehicles are loaded into the cabins 1. The vehicles may afterwards leave the cabin, driving in the same direction in which they entered and leave the tunnel 52 through an exit, which is not shown in the drawing.

The arrangement represented in FIG. 8 allows the cabins to be loaded on the street level, whereas the greater part of the parking device is below the said street level. While I have described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings what may be considered typical 4 and particularly useful embodiments of my said invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the particular details and dimensions described and illustrated, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

A vehicle parking device of the character described comprising a pair of spaced parallel endless conveyor means simultaneously rotatable about spaced parallel coplanar axles, a plurality of cabins for receiving vehicles to be parked, each cabin being suspended from a respective carrier axle, each end portion of each of the carrier axles being journalled in bearing means, an arm connecting the bearing means to the conveyor means, thereby suspending each cabin outwardly and eccentrically with respect to the endless conveyor means, one end of the arm having a pair of spaced coplanar rollers journalled thereon, a pair of triangular-shaped plates, the vertex portion opposite the base of each triangular-shaped plate being secured to a respective end of the carrier axle, one of the vertex portions adjacent the base having a pair of oppositely disposed rollers journalled thereon, the remaining vertex portion of each triangular-shaped plate having a roller journalled thereon, an extension arm formed on the plate intermediate the base vertices, bolt means secured to the extension arm at right angles thereto, an inclined arm having one end secured to the bolt means and the opposite end having a roller journalled thereon, the longitudinal axes of the roller mounted on the inclined arm and the roller mounted on the remaining vertex portion of the triangular-shaped plate being aligned, guide means positioned adjacent each of the endless conveyor means, said guide means comprising a first pair of tracks parallel to the conveyor means for receiving the firstmentioned rollers, a second pair of tracks parallel to the first pair of tracks for receiving one of the oppositely disposed rollers mounted on the triangular-shaped plate and the roller journalled on the remaining vertex portion of the plate, an arcuate guide positioned in proximity to each end of the second pair of tracks for receiving the other oppositely disposed roller mounted on the triangularshaped plate and the roller mounted on the inclined arm, each arcuate guide comprising a pair of quadrantalshaped tracks having their concave portions facing the endless conveyor means, the quadrantal-shaped tracks of at least one of the arcuate guides overlapping each other and a portion of the second pair of tracks.

References Cite-d in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,738 MacDonald July 21, 1931 1,826,357 Makutchon Oct. 6, 1931 1,978,205 Ide Oct. 23, 1934 2,272,421 Miller Feb. 10, 1942 2,619,239 Hild et al. Nov. 25, 1952 2,773,609 Holappa Dec. 11, 1956 

